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Well, that didn't take long. Here I have been biding my time, looking forward to the day when I could start blogging again, planning all sorts of re-entry posts about who I am now, how I have changed over the course of the year, what it feels like to have almost a complete draft of my book done, and BANG! Here I am writing about being attacked by the devil again. How apropos.

It happened to Sister Mary of Ágreda, and she is a much, much more gifted writer than I will ever be. (Mainly because she understood the true nature of her gifts--they came from God, as she well knew; I still have the presumption to imagine that what I write somehow depends on me.) As she tells it in the introduction to the second part of her masterpiece, The Mystical City of God (Mystica Ciudad de Dios, firstpublished in 1670):
1. When I was ready to present before the throne of God the insignificant results of my labors in writing the first part of the most holy life of Mary, the Mother of God [which …

THE VIRGIN MARY AND THE ART OF PRAYER The Hours of the Virgin in Medieval
Christian Life and Thought Invitatory: How to Read this
Book, The Virgin Clothed with the Sun[5,000
words] Chapter 1 The Hours of the
Virgin [20,000 words] A
Little History of the Office Symbolism
and Structure of the Hours Chapter 2Ave Maria [22,000 words] Saluting
Mary Naming
Mary Chapter 3Antiphon and Psalm [60,000 words] Mary
in the Temple The
LORD and the Lady of the Temple Miriam,
the Mother of Jesus the Son of God Most High Mary,
the Theotokos, the Living Temple of God Mary
in the Psalms The
Night Office or Matins First
nocturn, on Sunday, Monday, and Thursday Second
nocturn, on Tuesday and Friday Third
nocturn, on Wednesday and Saturday The
Seven Hours of the Day Lauds,
sung at sunrise Prime,
sung at the first hour of the day Terce,
Sext, and None, sung at the third, sixth, and ninth hours Vespers,
sung at sunset Compline,
sung at bedtime Chapter 4Lesson and Response [48,500 words] Richard
of St. Laurent and the things in heaven …

“You grasp my soul, and topple my enemies with it. And what is our soul? A splendid weapon it may be, long, sharp, oiled, and coruscating with the light of wisdom as it is brandished. But what is this soul of ours worth, what is it capable of, unless God holds it and fights with it? Any sword, however beautifully made, lies idle if there is no warrior to take it up.... So God does whatever he wishes with our soul. Since it is in his hand, it is his to use as he will." -- Augustine of Hippo, Exposition of Psalm 34 (35),trans. Maria Boulding, O.S.B.

Bear’s Story

@fencingbear

My Other Self

En garde

Touches

Bear tracking

In the know

“The best way to pray is: stop. Let prayer pray within you whether you know it or not. This means a deep awareness of your true inner identity.... By grace we are Christ. Our relationship with God is that of Christ to the Father in the Holy Spirit." -- Father Louis, alias Thomas Merton